Chiaki Kuriyama

Chiaki Kuriyama – b.1984, Tsuchiura, Japan. Began her career as a standard model for Japanese picture books, before moving to some fairly forgettable TV roles. It quickly became clear though that Chiaki stood out from the parade of pretty faced actresses that characterise Asian cinema. Bold experimental Directors in the J-Horror vein such as Takashi Shimizu & Takashi Miike (most notably in ‘Battle Royale’ & ‘Azumi 2’) utilized her darker ‘otherness’ to great effect and paved the way to Quentin Tarantino’s door. With her Kill Bill character Gogo Yubari comes access to a curious Western audience & hopefully some decent lead roles for this extraordinarily interesting actress. Chiaki is busy learning English right this minute.